


Splinter

by furiosity



Series: Eternal Summer (Right out of Hand) [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: Episode Tag, Gen, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-10
Updated: 2014-07-10
Packaged: 2018-02-08 05:51:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1929081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/furiosity/pseuds/furiosity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sousuke understands Rin better than anyone, except for those times that he doesn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Splinter

**Author's Note:**

> Contains spoilers for the second episode.
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> 
> Rin wore dubstep intimidation™ very well, but it's just not a good look on Sousuke, bye.

Sousuke was a little late getting dressed -- he'd left his goggles on a ledge by the pool and had to go back and get them. By the time he returned to the changing room, everyone was gone except a paunchy old man and his two sons who were spending more time hitting each other with their pool noodles than putting their clothes on.

He had nowhere in particular to hurry, anyway -- Rin would wait for him.

He zipped up his jacket, snapped his bag closed, and headed out into the hallway.

"Yamazaki."

It was Nanase: he hadn't been there when Sousuke came back with his goggles, so he must have followed him from the poolside and waited for him to finish dressing. He didn't look like the fighting type, so he'd probably come to say something witty he'd thought of since Sousuke confronted him earlier.

"I'm done talking to you," Sousuke said, moving to step past him.

Nanase blocked his way. "I heard what you had to say. Now you hear me out." Somehow he managed to look Sousuke straight in the eye even though he was at least a head shorter. _At least._

"I'm not interested--"

"What do you know about Rin?" Nanase interrupted. It didn't sound like a challenge, just a question.

"More than you," Sousuke returned. "I know he could have been training at a world class level in Australia if he hadn't run back here to compete with you. I know he's only going to end up getting dragged down by you and your little friends. So like I told you, stop getting in his way."

"Rin's already found what he came here for,' Nanase said, his eyes defiant. "He's got his own dream, and he's going after it. Just because you're jealous he didn't need your help doesn't mean you get to take it out on our team."

"Your team is of no consequence," Sousuke said. "I'm telling _you_ not to drag him down." 

Nanase's eyes flashed. "If you're going to say that stuff about our team, first beat us properly."

Sousuke couldn't help chuckling. "Really? You think you would have beaten me if the freestyle leg had been first?" Nanase should've known full well that had Nitori not been so slow, Sousuke would have beaten Nanase in freestyle, easy. _Freestyle? More like all style, no substance._

"I don't care about you," Nanase told him. "I was talking about your team. As for Rin, he can take care of himself; he doesn't need you sniffing around him like a dog. _Now_ we're done talking."

Rin walked around the corner. "There you are, Sou-- erm, Haru? What's going on, you two?"

Nanase's face slackened into a calm mask. "Nothing. I'll see you later, Rin."

"What was that all about?" Rin asked. He didn't even look at Sousuke; he stared wistfully at the corner Nanase had turned, as though wishing he could follow. _Who's the dog here, me or Rin?_

"Nothing," Sousuke echoed. "Let's get out of here."

*

_What do you know about Rin?_

The words had stuck in his brain, persistent and always surprising, like a splinter that's too small to see and pinch away, so you just have to hope it falls out on its own. But sometimes that wasn't enough. Sometimes it was important. 

An untreated splinter could cause a nasty abscess.

"Can I ask you something?" Souske asked Rin over lunch the following Monday.

Rin raised both eyebrows. "Go for it."

"I heard about that prefectural tournament last year, where you swam the relay with Iwatobi instead of Samezuka. What was that all about?" He wasn't about to admit to Rin that he'd actually gone all the way out here to watch him compete. That would just be embarrassing.

Rin's eyes lit up so fast, Sousuke had a mind to put down his chopsticks and walk out in a show of disappointment. _How can you be so happy about pulling a stunt like that at a formal tournament? Don't you want to aim higher, Rin?_

"I lost in the individuals," Rin said. "Lost really badly. Stuff was going on--," he thought for a moment, then shook his head, "--anyway, I was ill-prepared, messed up my timing, came in last. It was the worst."

Sousuke nodded. He'd been there, in the bleachers not far from the Samezuka team, watching. Rin hadn't been in his best shape that day, at least not until he swam with the Iwatobi people. "So what, you figured, in for a penny, let's have some fun with my friends and get disqualified?"

Rin glared at him. "Are you an idiot? Of course not. I got so pissed off with myself that I ended up having a total meltdown. Threw things, yelled at people, said I was done with swimming..."

Sousuke, who had been about to return to his food, froze. " _What_?"

Rin sighed. "Look, it wasn't my proudest moment. I grabbed my gear and was going to walk to the train station and just go home. Give up. Those guys -- Haru and them -- they came after me, and--" Rin's voice broke, and he shoved a slice of tomato in his mouth, his eyes cutting sharply away from Sousuke's face.

"I don't really need to know every detail," Sousuke said while Rin was chewing. "How did you go from quitting to swimming in the relay?"

Rin swallowed his food. "Look, I know you think I'm fixated on Haru and that's why I couldn't swim my best. But I didn't need to beat Haru, Sousuke. I thought I did, but I was wrong." Rin gave him a meaningful look, probably thinking about that letter he'd sent years ago. "I'd already beaten Haru long before that tournament, and it had done nothing. Actually, I was even more miserable. But the real answer was pretty simple. All I wanted was to swim in a relay with my old team."

"I don't get it," Sousuke said. He didn't. What was the point? Swim a relay with this team or the other -- what mattered was individual accomplishment. A relay result was merely the sum total of the participant results -- as the exhibition race had clearly demonstrated, one slow leg spelled disaster for the whole relay, no matter how much the slowest swimmer apologised later. Even when they were kids, Rin always used to talk about some special sight you could only see if you swam in a relay, as if there were more to a relay race than the sum of its legs. Cute, but childish, and of course completely not true.

"You don't need to get it," Rin replied, staring to the side of him with a tiny smile on his face. "You weren't there."

Sousuke's stomach gave an unpleasant flop. The remainder of his rice and vegetables looked like lumps of plastic to him. _Real swimming isn't a team sport,_ he wanted to say, but a bit of radish was lodged in the back of his throat and he couldn't seem to figure out how to get it out of there. He cared more about Rin than anyone, so it hurt to hear Rin dismiss him like that. But he knew Rin didn't mean anything bad by it.

"So they found me, and convinced me to join their relay, taking Rei's place," Rin continued, seemingly unaware of Sousuke's discomfort.

Sousuke swallowed the radish, though it didn't go down easy. "They magically knew what you really wanted and gifted it to you. A story of true friendship. Well done." _Is he going to finally notice I'm a little upset or is he just going to sit there with that faraway look in his eyes?_

"It wasn't magical," Rin said, a frown darkening his brow. "They knew because I pretty much told Rei about it the night before the race--"

"So it was his fault you were in bad condition? He came to hassle you before the tournament?"

"It wasn't his fault." Rin shot him a quick look of disbelief. "Even if it had been, he'd given up his spot on the relay to me, a total stranger at that point. Just because he wanted to help. And it did help. Finishing that relay broke through whatever it was that kept holding me back all this time. I was okay again. It was like coming out of a fog that I didn't know was there, Sousuke."

Sousuke pushed his plate aside. He didn't understand anything about this fog, but he did understand now that that relay had been incredibly important to Rin. It hadn't just been horseplay. He must have looked so foolish in Nanase's eyes. The Iwatobi team had done something to help Rin, and there Sousuke had been, jumping to conclusions and telling Nanase to stay away from him like a jealous boyfriend or something.

_What do you know about Rin?_

He got too caught up in his emotions, was prone to flights of sentimental fancy, and was the fastest swimmer Sousuke had ever met, even if his obsession with being on a team continued to elude Sousuke's understanding. He had a smile that could melt a rock's heart--

"Sousuke? What is it?"

"Nothing," Souske said as the tops of his ears heated up. "I was just thinking I'm going to have to pay a visit to Iwatobi and thank them for taking care of you all this time."

Rin rolled his eyes. "What are you, my mom?"

Sousuke grinned, and Rin grinned back. The din of the cafeteria faded back into the space between them. Everything went back to normal..

He would apologise; he had to admit he owed Nanase that much. But even though he'd been mistaken about last year's relay, he wouldn't let Rin get caught up in anything that would slow him down or make him lose his focus. 

He had waited for Rin to come back for six years, and he wasn't going to let him go again.

[end]


End file.
